A Love That Consumes Me
by HanyouHeroine
Summary: "You want a love that consumes you. You want passion, adventure, and maybe even a little danger.." Elena Gilbert is about to get just that. This is my version of a season four. : Rated M
1. The Beginning Of The End

New story! Yay! I'm getting my literary ball re-rolling, so please feel free to hit that amazing little "review" button at the bottom! Thanks a million!

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The Beginning Of The End

I woke up cold and startled. People were surrounding me, but I could not acknowledge them, I was too engrossed in my rapidly travelling thoughts.

They were foreign thoughts. Ones I'd never had before. Or had I? They felt like memories to me. Damon was cradling my face in his hands, telling me about how he felt he didn't deserve me, but that Stefan did. He said he loved me. He kissed my forehead oh-so-softly, and told me to forget he was there.

_He compelled me?_

Again, more memories flooded to the forefront of my mind. The night my parents' car went over the bridge. _I was waiting for them to pick me up, and Damon appeared out of no where. "Katherine?" He had said. _

_"Um, no.. I'm Elena." _

_He looked confused, but oddly not disappointed like I had expected. He was definitely cute, but creepy nonetheless._

_"Damon." _

_"Well, Damon, it's certainly creepy that you're here out in the middle of nowhere alone." _

_"You're one to talk, you're out here all by yourself," he countered._

_"It's Mystic Falls! Nothing bad ever happens here." _

_"I see. Why are you out here all alone?"_

_"Fight with my boyfriend."_

_"What about? If I may ask." _

_I contemplated turning around and running, but something held me where I was. "Life, our future. He's talking houses and children and marriage..."_

_"And you don't want it?" he asked, genuinely curious._

_"I don't know what I want." _

_"Well, that's not true. You want what everybody else wants," he smirked, and my legs suddenly felt like jelaton._

_"Oh, is that right? Well, tell me Damon, what do I want?" _

_He took a few steps closer and began, "You want a love that consumes you. You want passion, adventure, and maybe even a little danger.." _

_Taken a back, I managed, "And what do you want?"_

_He took my face in his hands and whispered, "I want you to get everything you're looking for. But right now I want you to forget that this happened. Can't have people knowing I'm in town just yet. Goodnight, Elena." _

_And he was gone. _

What is happening to me? How can I remember if he compelled me to forget?

Then it occured to me. The hunger rumbling in my very core. That feral, lethal need to feed. And the knowledge that I would die if I didn't.

I was in transition.

Suddenly, I became aware of people around me. Caroline, looking concerned and sad, Bonnie, who looked like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in days, Jeremey, and... Stefan.

The first words off of my lips surprised even me, "Where is Damon?"

The doors flew open and there he was. I was completely at a loss for words. He looked at me, his gaze half expectant and half afraid.

"We'll wait outside," Caroline said, breaking the awkward silence. She motioned for Bonnie and Jeremey to follow her, and when Stefan did not move his eyes from Elena she cleared her throat.

Stefan looked away, a crestfallen expression on his face. "I'll be right outside."

I stood up off of the hard bed and walked over to Damon, who at this moment resembled a lost puppy. I knew that his happiness was depending on my decision. Now that I knew the truth.

"Why didn't you ever tell me that I met you first?"

"I couldn't do that to Stefan. As much as I acted like the older dick of a brother, I still love him. I saw what the two of you had together, so soon to boot.. I couldn't ruin that, and hope that you would abandon your bond with him for me, who you spoke to for all of five minutes."

"It would have changed everything, you know. The slightest change in the past and I mightn't be in this position right now.."

"I am truly sorry for that, Elena. I know I should've told you, but I was afraid you would not want anything to do with me for taking your memory away. I am so, so sorry, I never meant-" I cut him off with my lips.

Damon returned the kiss with a fevered urgency. I knew Stefan was probably listening from the other side of the door but at this point I could not care less. All I could feel was Damon completey engulfing me. His tongue probed my mouth and when he felt the tip of my new fangs, he pulled back abruptly.

"What does this mean, Elena?" he asked, suddenly sad again.

"My world has just done a complete 180, Damon. I.. I know I still love Stefan on many levels, but the what I want is a love that consumes me. You consume me, Damon, from head to toe. You make me happy to be alive.. especially now that I'm not."

"So, you'll feed?" he sighed, apparently having been afraid that I wouldn't.

I looked at him, trying to convey the feelings of sheer adoration that I had for him. "For an eternity with you, I'd do anything."

I heard the agonized sob on the other side of the door, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it.


	2. Ready or Not, Here I Come

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**A/N PLEASE READ AND REVIEW :)**

Ready or Not, Here I Come

We all left the hospital shortly after my awakening, and after a visit to the ICU to see Matt, who had by some miracle pulled through. Meredith wanted to keep him for a few more days under observation.

I learned that Caroline had gone to find Tyler's body, so we could give him a proper burial. But it was no where to be found. It was the weirdest thing. We decided we would search some more in the morning, there was far too much to cope with this evening.

Stefan had been strangely silent the whole drive to my house. Jeremy had sat up front with him while I sat in the back with Damon. Maybe that had a little something to do with it. How was I supposed to explain to him this decision? '_Oh, I decided to be with you because I met you first, but turns out I met Damon first, so it's only fair!' _No. That was not going to cut it. Stefan deserved more than that. He deserved everything good in the world, and now that I was no longer technically human, I was by default no longer good.

This was about when I noticed the searing pain in my eyes, as the suns rays penetrated the glass windows. I needed to complete the transition, and soon.

We pulled in along the curb in front of my house and Jeremy, Damon, and I all got out. Stefan sayed exactly where he was, not a glance at me. It made my heart ache to see how much I had hurt him. Jeremy entered the house first and we followed him in.

Damon spoke first, "Just, sit tight okay, Elena? I'll be by before you know it with a blood bag. Lay down in bed, draw all the blinds, I'll be back before you know it!" He pecked me on the lips and was off like a flash.

My brother cleared his throat, you could run a butter knife through the tension in the room. "Damon, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Why? Wasn't it 'always going to be Stefan?'"

I smacked him on the arm. "Just because you read my diary does not give you any right to quote it. Things are different. I remember things that Damon compelled me to forget, and all of those deep-down feelings I had for him blossomed from those moments! They flooded back and suddenly every fiber of my being knew that I could not love Stefan this way any longer, and that I could not string him along. Sure, we still have to talk, I need to know he understands, but to be honest.. it's like all the strings attaching me to the world snapped and grabbed onto Damon."

Jeremy looked at me, a sad understanding in his eyes. "I get it, Elena. I know we torment each other sometimes, you but have to know that I only want you to be happy. I don't want you to do anything you'll regret, because you're about to have a very long time to regret it."

Something wild and angry erupted inside of me at that moment, like a blind rage. I knew that it was time to isolate myself before my need to feed killed Jeremy.

"Are you okay, Elena?" Jeremy asked quietly, "With all of this, I mean, I know you don't exactly have a choice, but are you going to be okay?"

"I think so, Jeremy, as long as I have all of you around me as support, I think I can do this." Jeremy hugged me against him, stroking my hair and sighing. With my face pressed to his neck, I just had to open my mouth and bite, that was it! I could feel Jeremy's life essence coursing through his jugular...

"NO!" Suddenly Caroline was in the room, pulling me out of Jeremy's grasp, who hadn't even known that I was so close to feeding on him..

"Upstairs, now Elena!"

"Keep it down, please, Caroline, my head is killing me.."

"UPSTAIRS!"

Jeremy's face was void of expression, and the knowledge of what I had almost just done came down like a ton of bricks.

Caroline growled, "Elena, go upstairs right now, I'm calling Damon."

I tore my eyes away from Jeremy's every-so-slightly pulsing neck and slowly headed for the stairs. I felt like a total idiot. That was my brother! How could my body betray my own flesh and blood like that?

_Because that's exactly what you want, blood! _

My subconscious was right. Absolutely right. Could I live like this forever? Always wanting blood, always _needing_ blood, no matter who paid the price?

I looked myself up and down in the mirror of my vanity. I was still the slender, brunette who emenated Calm Cool and Collected. I looked exactly the same as I had when I woke up yesterday morning. On the outside, I looked 100% sure of myself. On the inside, I was breaking down bit by bit. The passed 24 hours had changed my life _forever._

I lay down on my bed and for what felt like the millionth time, I let the tears fall. I sobbed into my goose down pillows like there was no tomorrow. It was not supposed to be like this! None of it! I was supposed to grow old, get married, have children! Now I'm going to be a predator, and everyone around me would be my prey, and they'd have no chance of escaping.

And Stefan! Oh, what was I going to do about Stefan? He came into my life at such a vulnerable time. We shared so much, and here I am, preparing for forever with his brother. Will he still want to help me? Will he disappear, forever? Oh, Lord, what have I gotten myself in to...

I heard the front door open and before I could blink, Damon was throwing open my bedroom door and jumping onto my bed, putting his arm around me soothingly. "Shh, Lena, it's okay, shh.." He scooted me up so I was in his lap and rocked me back and forth like the child I so truly felt like. He placed a kiss on the top of my head and whispered, "You're going to be okay, Elena, I wouldn't let you hurt anybody."

_How did he know that was what had me so upset? _

"Shh, baby. Come on, stop crying, I'm here. I brought some blood bags, if you're ready to drink them."

I nodded my head against his chest, sniffling. He continued, "We are going to have to go outside to do this. When you feel like you've collected your bearings, I want you to come and stay with me for a few days. Just until we feel like you've got yourself under control, okay? We can't put Jeremy in danger. He'll invite you in when I can promise you're safe."

_When I'm safe.. I'll never be safe. I'll be the world most dangerous predator, like you..._

"Are you ready, my princess of darkness?" He slid off the bed and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me flush against him. He pressed his soft lips against mine in a kiss full of love and promises of things soon to come. We parted, both of us panting slightly, and smiled at each other.

"I love you, Elena Gilbert."

"I love you too, Damon Salvatore."

With that, I dug out my suitcases and packed enough things for a solid month at Chateau Salvatore.

I hugged Jeremy as best I could, followed by Caroline, and followed Damon out the door.

"Are you ready for forever?" he asked.

In that moment, I truly thought I was.


	3. My Mantra

**A/N: Hello everybody! Here is the next chapter. I ask at this time that you make note of the M rating on this story! The smut will be rolling out sooner than later. ;) **

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My Mantra

'_You have nothing to fear but fear itself,' _I kept repeating this to myself as Damon and I made our way to the old cemetary, where I would complete my transition into a full fledged, blood thirsty creature of the shadows. That is, until Bonnie finished making my ring tomorrow.

"You don't have to be afraid you know." Damon startled me out of my reverie.

"I'm not," I argued.

"Your body is tensed up and your mouth is pinched. You're in deep thought, I could only assume it's about your impending vampiredom."

Okay, so he was good at reading me. I guess I couldn't argue anymore. "I'm afraid that I won't be me after I change. You told me a while back that if I had met you in 1864, I'd've liked you. I don't want to be a different person, Damon. I like who I am now."

"My personality changed so blatantly because my hatred for what Stefan did to me was amplified to an extreme. As long as you're not harboring any grudges, I'd say you'll be alright. Everything will look more vibrant, sound clearer, and sometimes it may feel like the world is in slow motion, because after we go for a run you'll know just how fast you can really go. But you'll still be Elena, and I will still love you no matter what happens when you change. I will always protect you, and do my utmost to keep you safe." He took my hand in his while the other clutched the steering wheel, and kissed the back of it. He pulled in to the gravel lot at the start of the cemetary and was out of the car and at my door in a milisecond, holding it open for me. "We're here, Princess."

I took his hand and stepped out onto the lot. The sun was just beginning to set along the horizon, and my heart was beating frantically in my chest. I took a few calming breaths, not wanting Damon to notice my sudden erratic behaviours and assume I was having second thoughts. Because at this point, second thoughts meant considering death.

We walked forward through the cemetary gates hand in hand. The air was still and warm, and you could hear the bats flapping around through the trees, preparing for their nocturnal adventures. We turned along to path heading to the older part of the cemetary, where the soldiers who fought in the civil war were buried. Damon lead me to one particular headstone, that was withering away with age as it was unkempt. He brushed some weeds away so I could clearly read the enscription,

"_Damon Francesco Salvatore _

_1840-1865 _

_Battle of Willow Creek_

_A confederate soldier, beloved son and brother_

_Will be missed dearly" _

"Who did this?" I asked, carefully.

"My father. Despite having been the one to kill me, he wanted me to be remembered with honour. So, he told everyone who did not know about mine and Stefan's deaths that I had gone back to the army, finally having learned my manners and duties. Eventually of course I had to 'die' to explain why I'd never be seen again, so he told them I'd been missing and he placed a gravestone here."

"Why didn't you ever show me this before?"

"Because I wasn't sure if we'd ever have to discuss the explanation for your death/disappearance. Or Caroline's for that matter. How do you explain to people why you aren't aging? You will have to leave Mystic Falls after a few years, Elena, and I want you to be at terms with that. Of course there is always the college excuse, but someone will wonder what ever happened to you."

"I'd like to jump that broom when we come to it, if that's alright with you." He looked at me with understanding, and he took my hand again, leading me passed the other head stones and into the trees. He pulled a blood bag out of his pocket and I felt my breathing stop. I could smell the blood in the bag and it was making my throat ache. I needed it, and I needed it now!

"Please don't be afraid, Lena. I promise I will always protect you, and I will do whatever I can to make you happy, forever." I nodded at him and kissed him full on the lips. He responded by wrapping his arms around my torso and pawing at my shirt. I pushed his hands down in a half-assed protest. "Later," I mumbled against his lips, "I really need to do this before my body gives up on me."

I took the bag from Damon and poked the straw he had brought into it. I sipped it tentatively, and as soon as the liquid touched my tongue my body went into a frenzy. I tore out the straw and pulled the hole wider in the bag, and sucked it dry almost instantly. I could feel the veins protruding around my eyes, and I could feel my fangs elongate. I was a vampire now and there was no going back.

"How do you feel?" Damon asked.

"I feel thirsty but otherwise normal."

"Here, I brought two more, that should sate you for the night." I accepted them from him and dug right in, loving the taste of the warm-ish red liquid cascading down my throat, satiating it if only slightly.

Damon was right, of course. Everything was more defined. Especially the toned muscles in Damon's arms. I met his gaze and it felt like eternity passed by, and left us in it's wake. There was not a shadow of a doubt that Damon was my other half in this moment. I loved him with every fibre of my being and thensome, and I could see that love reflected in his eyes. He leaned his head down and pressed his lips softly against mine, in a kiss so pure and abundantly un-Damon that it made my head spin.

"Do you feel that?" Damon asked.

"Yes," I replied. I didn't know how to describe it in that moment, all I could do was feel, and boy did I ever.

He pushed me against a near by tree, lips never leaving mine the entire time. We kissed with such fervor and passion that I was sure people on the other side of town could feel it. I let one of my new fangs press into Damon's bottom lip and he _growled_ at me. His hand became tangled in my messy locks, and I could feel his hardness against my thigh.

He began to kiss and suckle his way down my neck, towards the exposed half moons of my breasts. He pulled my shirt downwards to reveal a nipple, and instantly latched onto the quickly hardening peak, and began his relentless assault on the pebble. I could not help the moan that fell from my lips at his ministrations, this was the farthest we'd ever gone and I knew I needed to stop it before we went too far too soon.

"Damon," I mumbled, "Stop, we can't do this here." He quickly switched breasts and continued his attack. I knew this needed to stop but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. Why was I trying to stop this? It was amazing, it felt good, and above all it was _so right_! Why was I afraid? I reminded myself of my mantra, '_you have nothing to fear but fear itself.'_

Suddenly, his lips were on mine again and all coherent thoughts were officially out the window, the inner beast in my breaking out in a lust-driven frenzy.

"Your house, now," I whispered, and we were off like bullets to the Boarding House, hands clasped the entire way.

**A/N Hit that green button and share your opinion, please :)**


	4. Never Let Me Go

**A/N: Sorry this update took a few weeks. Honestly, I have been super stressed out registering for University courses and applying for loans and this that and the other thing... But nevertheless, here we are! A new chapter. Please read and review!**

Never Let Me Go

We threw open the doors of the Boarding House and continued at vamp-speed up the stairway leading to Damon's bedroom. Clothes were strewn left right and center. Damon even thought to stick one of his socks on the door knob, elicting a giggle from me.

"Are you laughing at me, my sweet little kitten?" Damon whispered into my ear. My breath hitched and I shuddered at his words.

"No, Damon." I muttered, suddenly feeling very vulnerable, pressed with my back against the door, flush between it and Damon's torso.

"I hope not, Princess. I'm sure you understand why I put the sock there, to serve as a Do Not Disturb sign. Or do you want someone to walk in? Stefan maybe? Or Caroline? You want to be caught, don't you Elena? You naughty, naughty girl.." I squirmed in his grasp but he just held me tighter, and kissed me for all I was worth.

"But tonight isn't about fucking, Elena. Tonight is about me making love to you, and us celebrating the beginning of our Forever." I sighed in contentment and he picked me up bridal style, walking at human speed towards his big, comfy bed. He flopped me down in the middle of it and cast his eyes up and down my body, a true predator sizing up his prey.

Damon's eyes ran up and down my body and a vigour I had never seen before shone forth. I was clad in a matching lace bra and panties set, and Damon's eyes were nearly bugging out of his head as he took it all in. He began to pepper my neck with kisses and blaze a trail lower and lower, inching closer to where my body was pulsing with unequivocal need.

I mewled as his slowed his ministrations, taking the time to casually nibble at the skin of my collarbone and my chest. He reached behind me and within miliseconds my bra was unhooked and cast away without hesitation. Damon latched on to my swiftly hardening nipples, one with his mouth and the other his fingers, and began to tease me within an inch of my life. Or, undead life. That was going to take some getting used to.

"Mmm, I love the sounds you make for me Elena," Damon muttered, giving my left nipple a quick flick with his thumb. I let out a gutteral moan at this, and his smirk grew. "Someone's getting impatient," he concluded.

I thrust my hips up, in desperate search of friction for my over heated core. Damon, my sweet, attentive Damon took note of this and slowing glided his hand towards my panties, above which he began to rub me where I needed him most. I bucked into his hand with a force not exudable by humans.

"Damon, please, I need you inside me!"

"All you had to do was say so, kitten." Damon smirked at me. He slid my panties down my legs and tossed them aside, his eyes now admiring my lady bits, causing me to blush.

"You are undoubtedly the most exquisite thing I've ever seen," Damon whispered, looking me right in the eyes. "You can't fathom how long I've waited for this, Elena. Especially after your phone call." Tears glistened in the corners of his eyes and I kissed them away. I pawed at his boxers to reveal his impressive member.

"If I had known what I know now, Damon, this would've happened a long time ago. I love you, Damon."

"I love you too, Elena." A tear drop fell freely onto my face, and he kissed where it fell while sliding into me, our bodies finally becoming one.

There are no words I could possibly use to describe the feeling of _rightness_ that erupted inside of me. The bliss and the unadultered happiness at finally being with my other half radiated from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, burning through my veins. Damon and I stared in awe into each other's eyes, and he soon began to quicken his pace.

"Ohhh my God," I muttered breathily, "Oh, Damon!"

"That's it, baby. Don't be afraid to express yourself." Damon put his hand behind my neck to pull my face towards his. Our lips met with a passion that could put out the fires of Hell, our tongues endlessly exploring each other's mouths. The sounds of our moans and skin slapping skin filled the room as Damon reached places within me that I never knew existed. It was beyond either of our wildest dreams.

Sweat poured down our bodies as we reached vampire speed, each of us desperate to find release through the other. Damon hiked my legs up onto his shoulders, and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head as I moaned his name yet again.

"Oh, Damon, fuck that feels so good! Harder, please! I'm so close!"

"Gah, Elena, you're so tight, so warm, I won't last much longer, fuck, kitten. Come for me. Come on my cock, baby." His lithe fingers began to rub my clit and I knew I couldn't prolong this if I wanted to. White lights burst before my eyes as my body was sent off into the most intense, earth-shattering orgasm of my existence. I screamed Damon's name so loudly that I was sure the entire town could hear. At the same time, Damon growled my name and erupted his hot semen into my womb, spurring me on further. Our movements began to slow as we tried (however unneccessary it really was) to catch our breaths. Damon slipped out of me and immediately I missed the feel of him filling me to the hilt.

We each lay on our sides, facing one another for quite some time. Occasionally we would share a chaste kiss, but the company was more than enough. Nothing had ever felt so right, so good, and much less so _normal_- we were vampires, by definition we were not normal! I moved to lay my head on Damon's chest and we soon fell asleep like that, limbs entangled under the blankets, and the post-coital bliss still flooding our veins.

The morning came with a shock. The sun was spilling forth through Damon's large windows, right over the bed, and consequently onto me. "Fuck!" I yelled, and scrambled off the bed into a shadowed corner. Damon jolted upright in the bed.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry, 'Lena. I told Bonnie to be over here before sunrise!"

"It's fine. Just, call her please? My phone is over there.."

With my new found super-hearing, I could hear that the phone was just ringing and ringing and ringing. Soon, it reached Bonnie's voicemail, so Damon hung up.

"Don't be angry with her," I told him, "She could be doing it right now, or she could've slept in.. It's not a big deal."

"If you hadn't've woken up you would've died, Elena! I'm not about to let that happen again!" His words lead me to consider for the first time since I came back from the dead that Damon spent hours thinking that I was actually dead. Gone for good. And that he'd never told me the truth. I sped across the room and grabbed his hand, leading him into the dimly lit hallway outside of our room and shut the door on the sunlight.

"I'm sorry, Damon," I whispered, "I never even considered how hard that must've been on you. Coming all the way home thinking I was dead." I looked into his eyes and saw the despair that lingered there at the thought. I tilted my face up and looked at him with pleading eyes until his eyes softened and he leaned down to kiss me lightly on the lips. "I'm here, Damon. I'm alive. This is all real."

"I know. It just feels too good to be true."

And then, the queen of moment ruiners walked through the doors to the Boarding House, with one hand covering her eyes.

"Are you decent?" Caroline called out.

Damon ran into the bedroom and grabbed me a blanket to wrap around myself. "Semi," I called back. Caroline giggled at that and met me at the bottom of the stairs. She handed me a ring with a lapis lazulis stone and I had to ask, "Why didn't Bonnie answer the phone?"

Caroline began to fidget, and I knew something wasn't right. "Caroline... what happened?"

"She says she needs to deal. She doesn't want to, well, see you."

"What?" Damon was by my side in a second, dressed in his black-shirt-black-pants combo. "What do you mean she needs time to deal?"

"The human-vampire ratio isn't looking so great in the friend department, Damon. Two of her best friends are immortal, and need blood to live. She went through this with me. It'll work out."

I didn't know what to say. The unexpected turn of events had me lost for words. Bonnie and I had grown up together, from play dates to real dates! How could she abandon me when my entire life was changing?

Well, her's was too.

"Are you okay, Elena?" Caroline asked, genuinely concerned.

"Well, no," I muttered, "But I will be. I just need to feed right now and get through the day. When she's ready, she can call me or come by, you'll tell her that, won't you?"

"Of course! I'll text you later, I have to see Mrs Lockwood..."

I hugged Caroline tightly. "Anything new about that? Still no idea where his um.. body is?"

She shook her head sadly. I knew that deep down she was hoping that he somehow got back up and walked away, like some sort of werewolf super recovery technique. But we all knew how unlikely that was.

"We'll find him, Care. I promise." She nodded sadly and walked back out the door.

With that, Damon and I walked hand in hand to the basement for our first meal of the day, in hopes that the dust would soon settle around us.

**A/N: Just a reminder.. hit the review button. :) **


	5. Found

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. I've just started Uni and things are a little crazy! Luckily, it's Thanksgiving weekend which means I should be studying for impending midterms, but instead I'm providing you all with a new chapter. :) Enjoy! Please review!**

Chapter 5- Found 

_Dear Diary,_

_What can I even say? There's no way to beat around the bush. I am a vampire. _

_The most astounding thing about the passed 48 hours is how okay I am with it all. Thinking about the possibility of this happening last year, all I could think about is how angry my parents would be about it. But now, I realize that they would be happy with any decision I made as long as it made me happy. _

_Okay, so maybe it wasn't my decision, per se.. But I am happy. I truly am. I feel as if I was born to become a vampire. Sure, I'm antsy as all get out, but I'm content. I am with Damon now, and for once in my life I am absolutely sure of something- he is my other half. No "what ifs" or "buts" about it. I haven't seen or heard from Stefan since the day I awoke, but to be quite honest, there is a part of me that doesn't care. A part that thinks I was in for a life of Bloodaholics Anonymous meetings, and burrying his mauled victims. I know I'm being morbid, but it sort of helps curb the guilt I felt when jumping into the arms of his brother._

_Then there's Bonnie. What can I possibly do about it? She doesn't want to see me. She hates me. No, she hates what I've become. Not me. Breathe, Elena. She'll come around. _

_I guess all I can do is take things one day at a time. Today, I get to go home. _

"Elena!" Damon called from downstairs, "Are you ready or what? You've been up there forever."

I stopped writing and shoved my journal into my bag, "Just about!"

"You have 10 seconds or I'm coming up there to get you."

I giggled, and proceeded at a leisurely pace, collecting my toiletries from the bathroom. I could hear Damon counting down.

My lips curled into a smile as I heard him finish with, "3, 2, 1..." Suddenly he was in the bathroom, throwing my now-zipped-bag over one shoulder, and me over the other! I squealed for him to put me down.

"Damon! Stop! I'm not done!"

"The rest can stay here. You should leave some clothes here too. What you have is enough."

I smiled at that, knowing he had already put up a hefty argument about why I should stay here permanently. But I had to go home. Jeremy couldn't be there alone. He wasn't even 17 yet!

_Shit. His birthday is this weekend._ I thought to myself, _What kind of a sister am I?_

Something sinister inside of me snickered, _a dead one._

Damon was eyeing me cooly, trying to read my expression. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

I pecked him on the lips quickly. "Of course. Let's go."

And off we went.

"Come on Jer, don't play around," I laughed, getting a little fed up with his whole, '_you can't get in, na na na boo boo' _routine.

"Fine, come in," he acquiesced. He pulled me in to an awkward, arms-length hug. I guess I deserved that, after almost having him for supper.

As soon as Damon moved to bring my bags up to my bedroom, the knock came on the back door. I opened it with hesitation, some grim part of me expecting my official Welcome Back To Life, Kind Of party. Instead, I got the opposite.

Tyler Lockwood stood on my back porch, buck naked.

"T-Tyler?" I exclaimed. Damon turned to step in front of me, half shadowing me from Tyler's view.

"Um. Hey," Tyler began. "Before you all freak out, I have no idea what's going on. I thought I was a dead man. I swear I died. But then I woke up naked on the floor of the old Salvatore crypt. I have no idea how I got there. But can I borrow some pants, Jer?" Jeremy turned and went up to his room, still very confused, as we all were.

I handed Tyler the afghan from the couch and he wrapped it around his waist. I made a mental note to throw that straight in the washer.

"Why haven't you been home, Tyler?" I asked, figuring he'd get his own clothes as his place was closer to the cemetary than our's.

"I can't go home anymore, Elena. There would almost definitely be council members spying." The dejected expression on his face was enough to tell me how hurt he was about all of this. And that he still felt he needed to leave. "Could you call Caroline to come here? My cell phone is MIA."

I nodded and stepped away from the boys. Whipping out my cell phone, I went to dial Caroline, but her face appeared indicated my incoming call first.

"Elena?" Caroline whispered. I was sure that if it wasn't for vampire hearing, I wouldn't be able to hear her speaking at all.

"Caroline, what's wrong?"

"They're following me, Elena. The Founder's Council. I don't know what to do, there are five of them and I'm sure they've got wooden bullets or something..."

"Run to the boarding house Caroline, now! I'll see you there."

She immediately disconnected the call.

I turned around to see Damon, Jeremy and a now-clothed Tyler almost directly behind me, waiting for an explanation regarding my conversation with Caroline.

"Caroline is in danger. The Council is on her tail. We have to get to the boarding house. We won't have long until they check there."

_Hopefully not long will be long enough..._


End file.
